‘You are all very capable’, Ramaphosa tells Phehellang learners

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has encouraged learners of Phehellang Secondary School in Parys, Free State on Wednesday to believe in themselves as they are the pride of the country.

“When you write and pass and get 100%, you are no longer doing it for yourself but for the whole nation,” said Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa and Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga visited the Free State school that obtained 100% matric pass rate in 2016.

The visit was part of the Department’s School Readiness and back to school oversight and monitoring visits.

He encouraged learners to achieve their goals by taking a few simple steps which are hard work, believing in themselves and asking for help.

“You must believe in yourself even if you fail a subject,” said Ramaphosa.

“When I looked around and looked at each one of you, I just saw clever people. As I looked at each face, you are all very clever, you are all intelligent, you are all very capable, you are all very outstanding,” said Ramaphosa to the learners.

The school has managed to obtain 100% in the past two years.

Ramaphosa said year after year they will be expecting nothing less than 100% pass rate for matric from the school.

Meanwhile, Motshekga said learners shouldn’t make excuses about coming from disadvantaged families, as they are not the first.

She said that learners can make it and be anything they want to be despite being from a township school. She said the Deputy President of the country, Ramaphosa, is one of the great examples of people who have made it, coming from a township school like them.

The Free State province produced the highest number of pupils who passed their 2016 Grade 12 examinations. It achieved an 88.2% pass rate in 2016, an improvement of 6.6% compared with its 2015 results.